Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

The ruling is a striking victory for the makers of the
Morpheus and Grokster software products. In the court's
words:

"Grokster and Streamcast [the company that provides
Morpheus software] are not significantly different from
companies that sell home video recorders or copy machines,
both of which can be and are used to infringe copyrights."

"We believe the Morpheus case is about technology, not
piracy, and today the court agreed, making it clear that
technology companies are not responsible for every misuse
of the tools they make," noted Electronic Frontier
Foundation (EFF) Senior Intellectual Property Attorney
Fred von Lohmann. "Today's ruling reaffirms the Supreme
Court's landmark decision in the Sony Betamax case."

EFF represents Streamcast in the case.

"Hollywood sought to control what innovators can make
available to consumers," added EFF Legal Director
Cindy Cohn. "This ruling makes clear that technology
companies can provide general purpose tools without fear
of copyright liability."

"Over 61 million Americans use peer-to-peer systems -- more
than voted for our President," added EFF Executive Director
Shari Steele. "It's time we found a way to ensure that
artists get paid without killing off this tremendous new
technology."